It is just about planting time for the garden at the farm. Well, actually, it already is for some crops like our onions, sugar snap peas, cabbage and potatoes – which all went in the ground this week. But in a few weeks we will be planting the remainder of our big summer garden crops of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and more – and as always – coffee grounds and egg shells will be a big part of the process.

I am amazed every year at how much more fertile our soil has become using simple, sustainable and organic practices. By utilizing cover crops of annual rye each fall, and adding in generous amounts of compost to our growing rows each season – the soil has become dark and rich – and more importantly – easier to work with each passing season.

As we turned a few rows of our annual rye cover crop over this week – the soil lifted easily and teemed with hundreds of worms and dark organic matter underneath.

It is always such a neat contrast to see the bright green color of the annual rye cover crop mixing into the dark, rich soil.